Mercury nudges record high in Carson City; no precip

Mercury in Carson City nudges record high; no precipitation

Calling it balmy winter weather doesn’t quite cover the record-nudging high temperatures and partly cloudy to sumptuously sunny skies in which the Carson City-Reno region is basking.

The down side, of course, is lack of precipitation in this drought-infested area, and neither rain nor snow appears to be on the horizon.

“Unfortunately not,” said Dawn Johnson, National Weather Service meteorologist in Reno, when she was asked about prospects for precipitation. “It’s basically looking like we’re going to be pretty dry over the coming week.”

She said Friday that on the previous day Reno tied the record for the high temperature on Feb. 12, while in the South Lake Tahoe area the record was surpassed by three degrees, but in Carson City the mercury fell short by three degrees.

“Carson did not hit a record yesterday,” she said, noting the date’s historic high here was 67 but the mercury climbed in the capital city to just 64 officially.

The forecast for Friday in Carson City was 70, which gave the community a shot at hitting or exceeding the Feb. 13 historic record. However, by mid-afternoon the temperature was still in the 60s and the question was whether Friday the 13th would prove bad luck for those yearning to see the record broken or bad luck for those rooting on the other side of the ledger.

Whichever proves to be the case, the forecast calls over the weekend for sunny skies today in the Reno-Carson City-Minden/Gardnerville region, with highs ranging from 62 to 72. Tonight will bring clear skies, lows of 27 to 37 and light winds. Those less-than-robust winds will continue on Sunday. when it will be sunny with highs of 60 or 65. Sunday night’s forecast calls for clear skies and temperatures from 26 to 36.

Come Monday through next Thursday, the forecast calls for clear skies with daytime highs in the 60s and overnight lows ranging from the high 20s to the middle or high 30s.